Car Insurance Claim - advice please! Write-off or no?

Geoff_Mutton

I had a crunch at a junction a couple weeks back.
The wing mirror on my driver door came off (taped it back on) and the wing was very slightly dented - enough to make opening the door difficult.

The insurer's engineer called today to say that he considered the car a write-off, as the repair would cost around £1700 and his estimated value of the car was £1400.

The car is a Golf GTi with a lot of miles on it (130K or so).
The day before the accident, I had spent £750 on a new clutch.

I'm fully comp and the car is worth far more to me than the £1400 they'd give me as a write off (it has leather seats and still drives like a champ). They also told me that if they gave me the £1400, they'd be taking the car to salvage.

I spoke to the insurance and told them that I'd been initially quoted £500 for a new mirror and wing, so this all seemed very unsatisfactory. (I may have expressed this view in a slightly more colourful manner, which I regret now...)

I was told I could either find an ad in auto-trader for a similar vehicle as proof that the valuation was too low, or possibly try to find a lower quote, but that they trust the engineer and his decision.

I went to a local accident repair place and he bent out the wing in about 60 seconds so I can use my door again. (still looks shabby, but at least I'm not climbing over the gearstick all the time). His advice was "take the writeoff money, get a door and a wing on ebay and it'll cost about £150 to have them fitted".

He said that the insurance company could not take the car - that they have no right to it.

I'm not sure what to do. Normally, I'd just pay out of my own pocket to get the damage fixed up and keep it simple with the insurance, but I'm getting too skint to keep on being a mug.

1. Would having the car written off by insurers make it impossible to sell on? (I'll likely just run it into the ground, to be honest).
2. Would following the garage's advice make it harder to get insurance in future? (I'd still have to insure the car once my current insurers wash their hands of it).

This is all a royal pain - I've been paying thousands over the years for insurance, someone else drove into me and the best they can do is say "stick it on the tip and here's a tiny few quid to get yourself something a bit rubbish instead".

Sorry if this was a bit long - any advice gratefully received!

BJV

Your insurance company are the only people that can decide to write your car off or not.

Normally the damage would have to be over a certain percentage to not make it worth there while.

You can try to ague the case you could also try to get them to increase the amount that they are offering you in settlement. After all the settlement just be a justified amount that you could go and replace the car for.

I would try looking at car websites and see how much they are being sold for.Never ever accept their first offer!

Once you know how much you could get in settlement you can decide which way to go or should i say which way to push for.

As for can the car be sold on. Yes. You will not get as much but yes there is still a market for cars that have been written off.

colino

Unless you withdraw your claim, it's up to the insurer the outcome of this deal. Bear in mind all of the UK insurers now manipulate the salvage market and they often "overclassify" a car to make sure it goes to salvage and their income from that source will be better than a contribution from the original owner.

Hintza

Ask them for a settlement and the cost to buy back the salvage, then with luck you will end up with the car reapired and a bit of cash in the bank.

mad_rich

Hintza wrote: »

Ask them for a settlement and the cost to buy back the salvage, then with luck you will end up with the car reapired and a bit of cash in the bank.

^ This.

Here's an example from a friend's car which was written off earlier this year. (I have the details because I bought it off him.)

As discussed please see below a break down of the value of your vehicle and a copy of a standard letter we send out explaining what happens to the level of cover if you retain your vehicle.

The value of your vehicle is £824
Your excess is £350

So we would send you a final payment of £474.

If you wanted to keep the vehicle we would also deduct the salvage value of £123.60. Leaving a final payment of £350.40

Hope this helps

We were both surprised at the (high) value of a Y-reg Fabia with 220,000 miles on the clock.

arcon5

If the insurance company write it of I'm fairly certain it is basically buying the vehicle off you at pre-accident value and they would have rights to it. Of course most will also agree a settlement whereby you keep the car.

Geoff_Mutton

I'm confused about the scrappage thing.
The guy at the garage said the insurance company have no right to the car even if they pay out as a write off.

Is he wrong?

fivetide

Essentially they are taking the car off you and paying you for it.

As above, if you want to keep it, you need to ask them about buying it back.

Why would they want to pay you full market value for a car and then let you keep it? They would just send the car to a auction to try and recover some of their money.

Geoff_Mutton

Yep, that's pretty much what I figured. Most of the equivalent motors on Auto Trader are in the £1800-2200 bracket, so I might pursue the write-off option and just start with another car. Just sods law that I paid £750 for a clutch only hours before the accident....

fivetide

Why though?

Better the devil you know and all that.

You could get another one and BAM another £750 for a clutch in a few months.

This way, as said, you might get a bit of brass in pocket and keep 'old faithful' for a bit longer.

As long as the damage isn't dangerous, keep the war wound. It'll make people thing twice about cutting you up and parking next to you at the supermarket. Run the car until the wheels fall off.

Geoff_Mutton

That is true (devil you know), but I am aware that the car *is* getting old and has the potential to become a money pit. I could equally be well served to get shot and choose carefully to replace it with something healthy.

Ultimately, I guess I have to just make a choice and see it through - you can never see into the future.

If I was to take a (reduced) payout and keep the car, would it be tough to insure?